Sarajevo under Siege

Sarajevo is a sobering place. It was under siege for over 1400 days between 1992 and 1996 with no power, water or supplies. It's hard to understand that this would be possible until you see it - it is in a valley, surrounded on all sides by hills and mountains. The enemy had the high ground from all sides and shelled them every day and there were snipers everywhere.

Compared to Budapest, this place has a solemness to it. Everyone over the age of 30 is old enough to remember it. Most conversations that start elsewhere seem to somehow go there.

We did a tour of the last day for ArchDuke Ferdinand, in 1914 and his wife Sophie. It was fascinating to see the very spot where World War 1 started, yet still, the conversation went there. Our tour guide was a guy in his 30s and it was just us 3. He told us that when he was a child out playing in the street a sniper's bullet hit a wall nearby - he thinks it was aimed at him. We asked if he played outside after that he said yes, but never again in a red shirt. 50 children were hit by snipers during the siege. He told us about eating tuna donated by the U.N. - leftovers from the Vietnam war, and a cookbook that the mother's created with things like how to make 'spinach' by boiling prickly nettles.

We did a second tour, this one about the siege. It was 4 hours long. Our guide was of similar age to the first one and the driver was in his early 60s. We saw what was left of the Olympic village (not much), and took a drive down snipers alley. There are still bullet holes everywhere. In one area, almost every building was littered with thousands of bullet holes, shrapnel and clear evidence of heavy shelling.

There are makeshift graveyards everywhere in places graveyards normally wouldn't be. Again, the snipers made it very dangerous to even bury the dead. There are graves in most of the parks - little clusters here and there. It was really really heavy stuff. It's one thing to see pictures - it's hard not to get choked up seeing it in person. Look up what a Sarajevo rose is. We saw a few of those, too.

Next, we headed to the old NATO airfield. NATO was bound by agreement to not let anyone leave and in exchange, the airfield was the only spot not held by the enemy. An 800 meter tunnel was dug under the runway - the only connection to the outside world and it was dug in the later part of the siege. They said it played a big role in ending it.

On our way to go up the mountain to see the sites of the snipers nests and tanks were positioned, we passed through an area (a semi-autonomous region within the country of Bosnia) still loyal to the other side and we saw posters praising convicted war criminals proudly displayed on government buildings. We saw grafiti that was translated to 'the eagle is gone but the nest is still here'. It was chilling.

The tour van got stopped by mini road block , and our driver dealt with the cops. We were missing a fire extinguisher, a violation. The driver gave them a bribe and we were on our way after a few minutes. We were told that after he gave them the money, he told them that his wife was sick and that wasn't very cool of them. They offered to give it back and he said "no, keep it".

A little while later Colton asked our guide if the driver was involved in the war (the driver didn’t speak any English). Our guide said the driver was a member of a famous/infamous squad of Bosnians that had fought on the very mountain we were descending. His commanding officer was an infamous character in the siege. After years of fighting he sort of lost it and started killing Serbs inside the city (Serbs got shelled, too). Eventually the police came for him and his group of vigilantes - 12 police officers died in the raid. A second group of police eventually caught up with the commander and killed him.

I don't think our guide usually tells that story, as he was very emotional and worked up by the end of it. The driver kept driving us down the hill, seemingly happy with how his day was going.Read more